Russian potash miner Uralkali CEO Vladislav Baumgertner, extradited from Belarus to Russia on Friday, has been charged with abuse of authority and questioned as a suspect, Russian Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said.

Russian potash miner Uralkali CEO Vladislav Baumgertner, extradited from Belarus to Russia on Friday, has been charged with abuse of authority and questioned as a suspect, Russian Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said.

"Today the Russian Investigative Committee's Investigations Department charged Baumgertner under the Russian Criminal Code Article 201 [abuse of authority]. Then he was questioned as a suspect," Markin told Interfax on Friday.

Investigators said they believed that Baumgertner, "while performing managing functions in commercial organizations, abused his authority by using it against legal interests of these entities in order to get profit and advantages for other individuals."

"This led to the infliction of considerable harm and serious consequences to the joint Russian-Belarusian venture Belarusian potash company and Belaruskali," Markin said.

Baumgertner, who chairs the supervisory board of the Belarusian potash company, was extradited from Belarus to Russia on Friday and placed in a detention facility, Markin said.

"He has been placed under arrest by court ruling on the restrictions demanded by investigators," the spokesman said.

Uralkali CEO already in Moscow pre-trial detention center - official

Russian Federal Penitentiary Institutions Service spokeswoman
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Vladislav Baumgertner, who arrived from Belarus last night, has already been placed in a pre-trial detention center in Moscow. Read more>>>